Hyundai and Kia have been hit with new class actions alleging the Korean car makers knew of engine issues in cars sold in Australia as far back as 2015.
The question of power to make a common fund order at the end of a class action was no longer a hypothetical one and it was time to send the issue to the Full Federal Court. That’s what the 7-Eleven class action judge was told 15 months ago but he failed to heed the advice, resulting in a court deeply divided and funders clamouring for reform.
The High Court killed off all common fund orders, not just the kind sought at the start of a class action, a judge has said as he cut in half the payout for a litigation funder bankrolling two franchisee class actions against 7-Eleven.
A judge has blessed a law firm’s $16.6 million legal bill for running two franchisee class actions against 7-Eleven despite a contradictor’s argument that it had a “troubling” practice of deferring its fees to benefit the funder that bankrolled the cases.
The applicants in a shareholder class action against KPMG and former directors of defunct mining company CuDeco might press for clarity on the question of common fund orders in light of a ruling Tuesday morning that further split the Federal Court on the issue.
The applicants in a consolidated investor class action against Blue Sky Alternative Investments and auditor EY will be applying for a so-called solicitors common fund order, and will move to transfer the case to the contingency-fee friendly Victoria Supreme Court if the groundbreaking application fails.
The law firm running the Montara oil spill class action, which has settled for $192.5 million, is looking for a new lead applicant after the first one defected over concerns group members would lose half the settlement amount to legal costs and a funding commission.
A landmark Federal Court class action against private health insurer Medibank will be a test case for when privacy claims can sidestep the regulatory path, and whether group members can prove they suffered loss from exposure of their data.
Uber wants to trim a class action by taxi and hire drivers in four states over the introduction of UberX, saying the case lacks coherence.
UGL Limited has agreed to pay $438,000 to settle a class action accusing the engineering company of underpaying casual aluminium construction and manufacturing workers over a three year-period.